Agricultural Act of 2014 -- Conference Report -- Continued

Floor Speech

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Madam President, I thank my colleague from Alabama for making his remarks a bit briefer, and I thank him as well for accompanying me to the State of the Union Address 2 nights ago.

I rise today to urge a vote in the U.S. Senate to confirm the nominee to be Minnesota's next U.S. attorney. I see my colleague and friend from Iowa here, Senator Grassley, who has been working hard on his good nominee as well for Iowa, and we have been working on this together.

When we look at the extraordinary circumstances under which the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota has been operating, it will be clear why a vote on this nomination and getting this done is so important.

For 2 1/2 years--883 days--Minnesota has not had a full-time U.S. attorney. During those years, from August 2011 to August 2013, Todd Jones was responsible for doing two jobs as the Minnesota U.S. attorney and as the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. I would note, as Senator Grassley has pointed out, it has been a difficult time in the office. While they continue to do good work, in part because the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota has great prosecutors, they did not have a full-time manager during this time, pending the approval of the ATF job and during the appointment time.

Over the summer, the Senate, as the Presiding Officer knows, confirmed Todd Jones as the Director of the ATF--the first permanent Director in 7 years--leaving the Minnesota U.S. attorney's position open. Senator Franken and I, in consultation with getting a recommendation from a bipartisan U.S. Attorney Advisory Committee, which included the former Republican-appointed U.S. attorney under both the first George Bush and the second George Bush, who served on our advisory board, we recommended Andy Luger, a respected litigator and former assistant U.S. attorney, to fill the position. We recommended him 191 days ago.

It has now been about 6 months--183 days--since Director Jones left and we still do not have a permanent, full-time U.S. attorney. Minnesota needs a full-time U.S. attorney. It is a major jurisdiction. Andy Luger has the experience and know-how necessary to do this job well.

From his days fighting white-collar crime as an assistant U.S. attorney to his work with Minnesota law enforcement to help improve their gang-fighting strategy, Andy has earned the respect of the legal and law enforcement communities. Throughout his career, he has proven to be a tireless advocate for the people of Minnesota.

As an assistant U.S. attorney, he successfully prosecuted organized crime, drug and white-collar cases. This included the prosecution of a $150 million national real estate and investment fraud case, leading to the longest white-collar sentence in the United States at that time. In 2009, he was appointed by the Minnesota Commissioner of Public Safety to lead an investigation into the Metro Gang Strike Force and uncovered a series of problems with the unit. He recommended that the unit be disbanded and replaced by other law enforcement efforts and it was, in fact, abolished.

In fact, a Star Tribune editorial said that Andy's review of the strike force made ``smart recommendations about The Twin Cities' next generation gang-fighting strategy'' and that his report included ``welcome measures to begin the long process of rebuilding the public's trust.''

Andy is well respected in the law enforcement community. I can tell my colleagues that after we made the recommendation to the President, I got nothing but positive words from police chiefs and others who are excited about him in this job. He is committed to building and maintaining strong working relationships and partnerships between Federal and local law enforcement.

In addition to his many years as a Federal prosecutor, Andy has had a distinguished career in private practice. He is currently a partner at the Greene Espel law firm where he is well regarded as a highly skilled trial lawyer focused on business litigation, representing businesses and white-collar defense. He has been selected as one of Minnesota's Top 100 ``Super Lawyers'' for the past 10 years and as one of the ``Best Lawyers in America'' for the past 4 years. He clearly has the experience, character, and drive to lead such a premier law enforcement agency as the Minnesota U.S. attorney's office.

The Minnesota U.S. attorney's office represents the United States with professionalism, high ethical standards, and an unwavering commitment to the safety of our community. These prosecutors work to protect public safety by focusing on the offenders who do the most harm to the community--terrorists, the ``worst of the worst'' violent criminals, drug traffickers, and major financial fraudsters. They also work closely with local law enforcement to ensure local and Federal resources are used efficiently and effectively.

I personally know this after having served as the chief prosecutor for Minnesota's largest county, Hennepin County, for 8 years, and I worked daily with our U.S. attorney. We would discuss which office would handle cases. During the Moussaoui investigation, as people recall, we got in Minnesota the hijacker who survived, the guy who threatened to learn how to down a plane and was caught and imprisoned, and that came out of Minnesota immediately after 9/11. The office was very focused on the terrorism investigation and my office stepped in and took some major white-collar cases to help out. We have a tradition of working together throughout the years, and that is why this office is so important to me.

Example: The office won a conviction in a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme, the second biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. It has an ongoing terrorism investigation that has led to charges against 18 people for aiding the terrorist organization Shabaad, 8 of whom have been convicted, some receiving sentences of up to 20 years in prison. If one can imagine this, they are conducting major terrorism investigations and prosecutions, and we need a full-time U.S. attorney to make decisions and to be in charge.

Other major accomplishments include Operation Highlife, which was a major drug trafficking investigation involving more than 100 local, State, and Federal law enforcement officers and resulted in 26 indictments, 25 guilty pleas, and sentences up to 200 months in prison.

Operation Brother's Keeper was a successful investigation and prosecution of a RICO case involving a regional 200-member gang, which took 22 dangerous criminals off the street.

Operation Malverde received national attention with the prosecution of 27 defendants associated with a Mexican drug cartel, including the apprehension of the cartel regional leader, and sentences as high as 20 years in prison.

The office also recently played a key role in shutting down a major synthetic drug seller in Duluth. This head shop was a huge problem. The perpetrator has been convicted and is awaiting sentencing. They literally found over $700,000 in his bathroom hidden in small plastic bags. They went after this head shop. They prosecuted that guy. They won that case. They deserve a leader.

Andy Luger is the right person for this job. The Judiciary Committee agreed and reported out his nomination without objection on January 9. I appreciate the service of the Presiding Officer as well as Senator Grassley, who is here, on our Judiciary Committee, and I appreciate the support for his nomination.

I also supported the nomination of the U.S. attorney from Iowa, and we know how important that job is as well.

This position of U.S. attorney was regarded by the Founders as so vital that they created it during the very first Congress; a position so crucial that it was born in the same law as the structure of the U.S. court; a position so necessary that President Zachary Taylor filled it within 2 days of Minnesota becoming a State.

In our case, for a variety of reasons--a variety of reasons--we have now gone 883 days without a full-time U.S. attorney. This is our moment. We need to move ahead on this nomination.

Again, I appreciate Senator Grassley's help in moving these nominations forward. We have two U.S. attorneys, two Federal marshals. I can say that Andy is a dedicated public servant whose breadth of experience, strength of character, and commitment to justice make him a well-qualified candidate to serve as Minnesota's next U.S. attorney.

I don't think there are any objections to his nomination, but I urge my colleagues to support his confirmation and give this office the leader it deserves, as well as the district of Iowa.

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